FLATTENED: Mid-Michigan Rolls Past Norse Men
![]() MT. PLEASANT, Mich.---A battle between a pair of Top 20 teams did not live up to the hype on Saturday, as the Mid Michigan College Lakers led from start to finish to win, 113-95, over the Bay College Norse at the Maurey Courts.
“They were absolutely better than us today,” Norse Coach Matt Johnson said. “They played harder than us. They were tougher than us, and they shot really, really well, especially in the first half. If you let somebody shoot 56-percent from the field, 50-percent from three, it's gonna be a tough night. Especially against a team that plays as hard as they do.”
The Norse found themselves playing from behind as the Lakers scored the first six points of the game and kept going with hot long-range shooting to stretch the lead.
At one point, the Lakers scored triples on six straight trips down the floor, and overall, they scored on ten consecutive possessions, to take a 54-32 lead with 4:00 left in the half.
The Norse caught a spark on the final play of the first half, as Ryan Sweeney nailed a buzzer-beating triple from well outside the arch, but Mid Michigan still had a 59-44 lead going into the locker room.
The spark didn't last long, as the second half was more of the same as the Norse defense could not slow down the Laker offense.
Vynce Overshown made two straight triples to make it 87-63, including a wide-open step-back triple in front of the Mid Michigan bench heading into the ten-minute media timeout.
A Deantre Griffin two-handed slam after a Norse turnover with two minutes left was the icing on the cake for the Lakers, giving them a 112-87 lead.
“It was a good battle for us,” Johnson said. “It was something that we needed to see. They're really good, and we just showed tonight that we weren't good enough. They executed their stuff really well. It should show our guys what level we need to play at. Our rotations were too slow, and we let their shooters get way too many open shots. The game was not as close as the scoreboard says. They kicked our butts for 40 minutes.”
Mid Michigan, ranked 17th in the country, improved to 7-0 in conference play, 18-3 overall, and clearly in the driver's seat at the halfway point of the conference season. Bay College, ranked 17th in the nation, fell to 16-5 overall, 5-2 in the MCCAA.
Overshown was on fire for MMC, making seven of his ten three-point attempts to finish with 21 points. Joe Iung was the top scorer with 24 points and James Wright added 19 points.
Bay College got 26 points from Sweeney, and he added nine rebounds. Tre Sanigar added 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting (four triples), and Joe Ofori contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. Nic Williams had 12 points and six assists, and Mykel Lindsey reached double figures with ten points.
The Norse return to action Wednesday night in Petoskey as they face the last place North Central Michigan College Timberwolves (0-21 overall, 0-7 MCCAA). The game starts at 7:30 and will be broadcast live on Maverick 106.3 FM and on-line at www.baynorse.com. |